**M980NU (X1/Commanche SLI/NP9850) Owners Thread**

Aye, I didnt even change anything else. Im inclined to believe the driver control element still isn't working 100% so it works sometimes and not others!

 

Since upgrading to Windows 7 I get stuttering when plying videos from the HDD?

Anyone experience this?

 

daz i get no problems at all when watching hd videos or regular avi's/mpgs etc. Sound is also 100% clear with no crackling etc.

only crackling i get is with mp3/m4a/aac etc

its driving me batty.

i finally get rid of the hard drive click of death only to be replaced with a media laptop that can't play music clearly

 

We're working on it mate...if I confirm any new work-arounds/temporary measures etc that work, I'll let you know.

You're right...the audio stuttering/popping/crackling *beyond normal background noise on headphones...this is onboard afterall* IS annoying, but apparently Nvidia/Clevo have been on it since last week, so should hear something new sooner or later,and if my own hunting turns up anything, same deal.
Im testing a new version of my own work-around since yesterday, which seems to be helping, but Im not going to say if it seems to be a definate help until I've tried it for a few days (so I dont have a repeat of the last time where the issue reoccured about a day later!) [and we might hear a semi-official response soon too]

If you want to try my new test method before I call it legit, drop me a PM and I'll send you what I've done so you can try out my method, but its not a confirmed workaround yet.

@Daz...I was getting random stuttering for audio before regardless of media type! Not as much in games but still happened even there.
I'm a big music guy, which is why I've been putting some time and effort to try and find a work around while I've had some time off work, and we wait in the meantime, the audio issue bugs me...a lot.

 

I will test again tomorrow, but I think the latest drivers fixed it.

 

same thing with the m17x

 

If it did, glad to hear it, the new 195.62s didnt cure stuttering for me, unless you mean some other driver I dont know about?
Its a bit of an elusive bug that affects some people and not others.

@ Don, I think the M17x suffers for different reasons than the M980NU. Feel free to test my method, providing I dont find any issues with it, when I note it all down, but I cant guarantee it'd help you in the slightest.

 

Hey guys!
My order of this beast just got in!

Lovin it so much.
What drivers n stuff do you guys recommend?

also i've been noticing a random stutter that happens every once in a while. I'm going to install a fresh bloatware free version of win7 on another hd to see if it stutters there or not, if so then it's probably one of sagers drivers messing around

anyone already know the solution to this? I can't be bothered to read through 136 pages :\

 

It's funny because I too, get sound crackling for no reason sometimes on my old Sager Notebook, the SP-9860. It's an old, beat up 5 yr old dinosaur but you would think Clevo would improve their design of these machines regarding sound output by now. Why oh why are they still using RealTek??? C'mon Clevo, work something out with Creative and start putting a SoundBlaster chip in your machines!

 

im so confused as i dont suffer with it, i wonder if there is a difference chip in a differnt production run somwhere...

 

Fresh install of Win7 bloat free, drivers off of Sager site for everything except fingerprint scanner and video. Win7 can win update find a driver for the fingerprint scanner and video I'd use either the 186.81 or 195.62 WHQLs right now.

What sort of stutter do you experience, is it everything freezing, or purely the audio with pops/crackles/stutters?

If its the audio wierdness and messups, then there's no official fix right now, although Nvidia/Clevo are looking into it. I'm testing my own temporary work-around but I'm still validating it (want to make sure it doesnt fail over this weekend when I'm not in work), and even if it works on my machine, I can't guarantee it'll work on anyone elses, especially if they have a slightly different driver setup etc.

 

It's not the actual sound chip that causing basic faint background noise, that's lack of shielding and electrical noise, and really depends on the machine, mobo etc. Putting a creative chip straight into the same position wouldnt necessarily cure the issues at all, many desktop mobos with realtek chips suffer no background noise via headphones at all, whereas others do, and its largely a design and shielding issue [not an issue with the actual realtek chip itself]. (and in comparison to Creative, Realtek drivers are usually reasonably solid). Apart from C-media, and the likes of Asus/Creative, Realtek are really the major player in the vast majority of onboard audio for computers these days; it's not like there are a huge number of viable competitors!

With the M980NU, like the M17x for some people, there's a major crackling/popping/stuttering issue with audio, which isn't your normal background noise like you might find on an average machine, so a slightly different issue, well if you're talking about what I think you are (minor crackling/hissing etc background noise).

 

Right, Im happily almost stutter-free since Thursday, so here's a new version of my tweak workaround to try until we get an official response to the audio stutter etc problem

PS. I am on W7 64bit and am using the High Performance power profile, I'd recommend switching to this before trying out the guide. I'd also recommend starting with a fresh install of the drivers, to ensure you've got no remnants hanging around which might interfere or contribute to the problem. I'm also using the latest 15.50 chipset drivers, latest .06 bios and latest audio drivers as per Sager for the machine. Whether these make a difference I dont know, but worth bearing in mind

-------------------------------------------------
NOTE FROM NBR MOD:
Be aware disabling NVIDIA's PowerMizer will produce higher thermals. NV Mobile GPUs have PowerMizer to reduce thermals and provide max battery time.

Do this at your own risk.
-------------------------------------------------
*****
Note from the author:
When I wrote up this guide for people on the Kobalt Forum and then here, it was assumed you are technically savvy enough to understand roughly what is being done and the effect this will have. Idle temps will generally rise about 5-10 degrees C, and this guide is provided as a band-aid, at your own risk. Chances of damage are minimal whilst you are waiting for a proper resolution, using it as a permanent fix however would not be recommended because of the rise in temperature and associated power usage and the effects this could have over long term use.
*****

PS. Can anyone see the irony in this being linked to from Endgadget in regards to the M17x, when its actually a guide written around a Clevo M980NU chassis, that just happens to be relevant to the M17x too?
I'm just glad if it helps someone live with thier machine until they can get a permanent fix for the issue!

 

I feel like we've all been so quiet lately! I still can't get my touch buttons to work in Win7, completely baffled. If anyone can tell my precisely what to uninstall and reinstall I'd appreciate it I also found out that you cannot update the firmware on my SSD in the laptop. The bios update won't find it which stinks, something about the controller card used.

 

Hi Madpoet, it may be possible to flash your SSD (like flashing the firmware on the DVDRW) but would involve a little working around as I'm guessing it can't install/doesn't detect in RAID/AHCI mode? (I'm presuming you have a DOS firmware update?)

Have you tried downloading the latest version of the hotkey software from Sager's site (there's a link I hosted in another thread with audio and the hotkey driver as a pack which I hosted on mediafire IIRC), also if it crashes under Win7, if you get it to tell you why, it may indicate which .dll crashes it, in my case I found fraps set to load at bootup was killing it.

Regards the SSD flashing, read the following, and try adapting, it might help you, this guide is obviously for the DVDRW drive as it mentions other bits I've linked over there etc, but a lot of the parts may be relevant, like your SSD, the DVD firmware can't be flashed easily due not detecting by the firmware update software unless in IDE/ATAPI mode

 

Thanks, that is the problem. I can't get it to see the drive because I couldn't find an ATAPI mode. I will definately try this!

 

No worries, admittedly a lot of the above guide isn't relevant, but there are several steps there that should help you, as they basically show you how to get access to non RAID/AHCI
I warn you the M980NU BIOS seems a little reticent on switching OS to other, and I found it switched it back to Vista/Win7 without me wanting to once or twice, as well as needing a hard shutdown of the machine once.

Nothing harmful in the long run though, just our BIOS can be a little stubborn haha

Here's a link to the firmware/software pack mentioned in the guide, just discard the DVDRW firmware files, the rest might still be useful to you
http://www.mediafire.com/?g4ztolnnntm

 

Had the same issue with the SSD drive. There isn't a way to do it due to the controller so I had to remove it and hook it up to another computer (desktop one) and update the firmware that way. What a pain but new Trim firmware works well in Win7. Touch buttons work fine in Win7. I just installed the ones that came on the CD. Have tried any others. I didn't do anything special that's for sure.

 

Well guys, on Monday I will driving down to the Sager HQ office in City of Industry. They're only like 20 miles away from where I live.

I will be inquiring about buying a 9850. What do you think are the chances I will be able to pick up a machine from them say, the next day? How much time do they usually need to build the machine and configure it up to your requested specs? I'm hoping I can pick it up by around Thursday at the latest.

 

I'll be honest, if they're anything like most resellers, they'll likely take more than a few days due to backlogs etc. I wouldnt get your hope up on getting it in less than a week or two.

 

@ isamu

You would do better to visit their website, or one of their reseller's websites, to place your order. They are a factory, not a store, so going there really won't help you much, and at gas prices these days you might want to just save your time and money.

Also, if you buy directly from Sager, and you live in California, you will be paying sales tax and the California recycle fee.

I would also recommend calling first to see what the availability of the NP9850 is, and to find out when you could expect to have one available for you.

 

3 questions:
1. how do i overclock my rig?
2. is there a way to get the LEDs to change with the music
3. top piece (the part with the sound dial, caps lock LED, and the other LED buttons) seems to be less than secure, it seems to have a big bubble in the middle. What should i do to fix? I REALLY dont want to send this back to AVADIRECT, is there a local solution that i should/could look into?

 

You overclock via nvidia system tools

no on the music that I know of

can't help on the touch panel

 

Same as previous poster

Beaware that overclocking will invalidate warrenty without prior approval from Ava.

As for the top panel, i havent heard of anything even closely resembling your request

Re the panel, i wouldnt muck about with it, too many things could go wrong, if you want it fixed. Send it back

 

sending it back **again** is like my WORST nightmare.

 

Tried reinstalling Hotkey but it just crashes every time when it tries to start. Very strange. I am running WIn7 X64 Home Premium.

 

Have a look in the service manual (in my sig) and see if you can remove/reseat the touch panel.

 

Ginally got my machine. It's great too, though I noticed that the plastic part of the LED Color Change button is bulged compared to the others on the touch buttons. Is that normal?

 

I purchased the w870cu , which i have not yet received. I was thinking i might want the np9850 one instead because of the SLI, what are the current issues this notebook is having?

I really didnt want to read through all the pages for this bit of info, seems like they could make more sub catagories to this forum, it would be easier.

 

Only issue this machine has is sound stuttering. Not had any other issues, bar my DVD drive being semi-allergic to dual layers haha

 

Just curious, what are the issues you are having?

 

Is your workaround still working?

 

Yep, very occasional slight stutters (usually when I forget GPUZ) to remind me the bug hasn't had an official fix yet, but by and large the work around fixes it in the meantime. Much happier with the machine now then when I got it thats for sure, the constant audio stutter was driving me round the bend til I managed to one up it!

 

???? Can you expand on this comment? What exactly is it doing?

 

Doesn't always read them properly (just spins up but doesnt read), easily dealt with by taking the disc out and putting it back in a few times until it works, just a little annoying, but thats just an idiosyncracy of my drive, it was worse before I updated the firmware haha. Even though it looks clean, gonna put some water on it and get a glass cleaning cloth on it at some point in the next few days incase theres something I cant see on the lens.

 

I swear that is the EXACT thing that's happening with my drive, and I have a VERY OLD laptop(4+ years). You'd think they'd of made some improvements to the damn drive or firmware by now.

 

Different vendors use different drives. Some drives are better than others, and then you occasionally same line ones that dont work amazingly as the drive itself is funny.

As I say going to clean the lens incase there's some sort of dirt on it/layer thats affecting the laser which I cant see.
Drive I've got is an LG G10TN.

 

Wow, I guess you answered my question. I was considering buying a sager NP9850, but I wouldn't be able to tolerate *any* skips in the audio. But anyway, is their a real fix seen on the horizon? if so I may still get one.
Here's another audio question: does the 9850 have stereo mix as a recording device? Right click on the volume control, bring up the recording devices, microphone should be there, line in should be there and another entry called "stereo mix" or "what U Hear" or "wave out" should be there. If none of those appear, right click on the white space underneath the existing devices. A checkoff box should appear to enable hidden/disabled devices. check it off and then look for stereo mix. Stereo mix is very important if you intend to record anything you hear through your laptop speakers, such as internet radio, etc.
Please excuse me if this is already very obvious to you. But anyway, I need to know whether this laptop has stereo mix. Please answer my question. It's impossible to get an answer out of Sager, or anyplace that sells this model. Thank you.

 

The only information I have on an actual fix is none has been provided yet, however one is being worked on by Nvidia/Clevo now they've seen proof of the issue.
I'm also very particular about audio, and if I didnt have this work around I would have gone nuts, Im now virtually stutter free with the very occasional interlude,nothing like what it was at stock!

Also, yes it does have stereo mix

 

Just discovered that my SLI was disabled after my windows 7 install and that caused stutter with certain mpg files.

With it enabled it corrected the problem.

 

Don't imagine there's some sort of email list for those who want to hear of the solution to the stutter investigation Clevo et al. are going through, is there? I thought it was just a problem I was having and it was driving me insane trying to figure out what it was from. I suppose there's some solace to be had in knowing you're not alone, right? =)

Listening to my MP3s right now is annoying. At least the issue seems to not affect most game sound.

 

Unfortunately not as its something Kobalt have asked for. If I get any beta drivers or anything Ill post them here.

In the meantime try my guide, most people seem to have found a noticeable improvement, as long as I do the gpuz stage each boot after doing it I get virtually no sound stutters

 

I would but I believe the power bits are only in the latest drivers which seem to have a problem with secondary displays. I'm currently stuck using 186.81 which as far as I can tell does not have the necessary power settings. If I'm wrong please let me know.

I'm not against going through all the steps if there's a driver that will properly work with my secondary display setup. Right now though the 28 inch monitor I'm often plugged up to wins out over my stuttering issue. Worst case I can also just play the music on the other machine next to me. =)

BTW, thanks to everyone who works hard at making the community around here worth being a part of.

 

Well, even if you can't follow that step, the rest of the guide would still be relevant and may help you out, I just cant promise the same results .

 

We have been talking to Nvidia direct about this issue and they have been passed a lot of information relating to it both direct from our testing and from guys like Alex. As soon as a fix is available either from Clevo or Nvidia we will be letting all our owners know about it. I'm sure others will do the same if you contact the company you bought your laptop from

 

Thanks for the updates Alexrose1uk and Neil@Kobalt.

I'll try out the fix later tonight if I can get some time and see if it gives at least a temporary improvement.

I did have a good laugh today about the whole thing. It's funny to think a $3000+ laptop can't play MP3s without stuttering. Haha. =)

 

Well when playing videos from the HDD I get short pauses in the video that coincide with a CPU spoke from 9% to 30%. All this started after I installed Win 7.

This is killing me!

 

We only had it reported under Windows 7 (Vista never had any problems) but one of the strange things is that it doesn't seem to affect everyone. The issue is largely unreported with our customers but there is obviously an issue somewhere. It's far from ideal for those of you who are experiencing it but the good news is that something is being done about it

 

Well I was gaming all day and after posting this I decided to reboot the computer and so far not one stutter.

Strange.

 

I keep going back and fourth on this SLI book and the new Asus G73JH, I know this one will outperform most for awhile to come. My main problem with this is the stutter issue, I dont want to end up with a $3K Lemon. What has the history been like with Sager and Clevo on stuff like this?